Editing Ross Thatcher (section)

==Early life and career==
Born in [[Neville, Saskatchewan]], Thatcher was a Moose Jaw-based businessman, who developed an interest in politics shortly after the birth of his son, [[Colin Thatcher]].<ref name="obit">{{Cite news |date=1971-07-24 |title=W. Ross Thatcher, Ex-Premier Of Saskatchewan, 54, Is Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/24/archives/w-ross-thatcher-expremier-of-saskatchewan-54-is-dead.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420133441/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/24/archives/w-ross-thatcher-expremier-of-saskatchewan-54-is-dead.html |archive-date=2019-04-20 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Thatcher's father had built a chain of [[hardware stores]] across the province, which Thatcher helped to manage.<ref name="esask">{{Cite web |last=Quiring |first=Brett |title=Thatcher, Wilbert Ross (1917–71) |url=http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/thatcher_wilbert_ross_1917-71.jsp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227025215/http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/thatcher_wilbert_ross_1917-71.jsp |archive-date=2019-12-27 |access-date=2008-03-16 |website=Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan}}</ref>

Thatcher graduated from high school at age fifteen, and attended [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]], in [[Kingston, Ontario]], where he earned a commerce degree at age eighteen.<ref name=esask/> Immediately following graduation, Thatcher became executive assistant to the vice-president of [[Canada Packers]] in [[Toronto]], but returned to Saskatchewan to run the family business after his father had become ill in the late 1930s.<ref name="esask" /> By this time, the family business included outlets in [[Regina, Saskatchewan|Regina]] and [[Saskatoon]] as well as the original Moose Jaw store. Thatcher employed his siblings to assist him.<ref name="Deny">Garrett Wilson and Lesley Wilson, ''Deny, Deny, Deny: The Rise and Fall of Colin Thatcher'' (Toronto:  Lorimer, 1985).</ref>

In the late 1950s, Thatcher transitioned away from hardware and into farming and cattle ranching in the Moose Jaw area. He employed his son Colin as a full-time manager of his agricultural businesses, starting in 1962.<ref name="Deny" />